"It should be mentioned that the US government has no merit to label other nations of sponsoring terrorism as it has a long ... record (of) supporting terrorist groups in our region as well as Israeli state terrorism," Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for Iran's UN mission.

A recent post on an English-language Israeli news site outlined Tehran's belief that the US is the true perpetrator of terrorism. A recent US State Department report accused Iran of increasing its support for terrorism, marking it the highest resurgence of violence since the 1990s. Tehran has responded by turning the tables, claiming it has actively engaged in various measures to counter terrorist attacks supported by the US government. For example, Iranian officials cited the recent removal of a terrorist organization, the Mujahadin-e-Khalq, from the US official list of terrorist organizations. This Iranian dissident group has been known to target Iran's Shi'ite Muslim clerical leadership and fought alongside Iraq's Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980-88 war with Iran. What guidelines is the US using to justify this group's behavior? Is the US deterred from taking action because this is an Iranian-based group targeting the Islamic Republic as its main target? Tehran argues that the US holds a double standard when it comes to terrorist activity, allegedly designating others as terrorists only when a direct threat toward American people exists.